The words London and luxury seem to come hand in hand. There is an ever growing array of things to do with your Friday and Saturday nights, but sometimes those nights need that extra little sparkle. Whether it’s a date night, a special occasion or you just feel like having a more classier evening.
One Aldwych have perfect curated a luxury themed evening for us to enjoy. They have recently teamed up with Curzon which allows their Film & Fizz night to have that special touch, bringing the newest films to their private cinema.
I was recently invited to try out the experience for myself. Excited to experience a Saturday night in a more relaxed manner, I was ready to see what they had in store for us.
On the night, we were escorted to a lower ground of the hotel, where their private 30-seat cinema room resided. On arrival, we left our coats in the cloak room and made our way into a dark cinema room. We were kindly given the choice of sweet or salty popcorn (I went for sweet, because I have a major sweet tooth) and were shown our seats before being brought a glass of bubbles. Yum!
Clink clink! A toast to our Saturday night! We settled down as the film JOY began. A truly wonderful and empowering film about a girl who is the main woman in her household, made to look after all her family, still living with her divorced husband and insanely poor. She had a dream as a young girl, as all girls do, about how she wanted her life to be. She used to sit in her room creating these wonderful handmade 3D structures using paper and would act out her life. Joy was extremely talented but she never put it to good use. Until one day, she was utterly fed up of the way her family life was. Her house was falling apart, she was deep in debt and she had family that were driving her up the wall. So Joy decided to take her future into her own hands, creating a self wringing mop (back then, they had to wring the mops by hand. In one occasion, Joy had cut her hands due to the fact their was glass in the mop head, which gave her this idea). She goes on to be absolutely empowering woman who jumps from strength to strength to build up her idea and make it work. Safe to say, she and her idea were a real success. A true inspiration I say. A definite must see!
After the film was finished, we were escorted upstairs to their hotel restaurant Indigo. As part of the package, you get a three course set menu meal at Indigo, which I think is great value for money.
When we were seated, we were presented with the option of having the normal menu if we liked, I assumed it was for the purpose of the review but we obliged.
For the starters, I ordered the Watercress croup with a poached brown hens egg. It was absolutely delicious! The only thing that did upset me slightly, was the waiter didn’t take this time when pouring the soup and it went all over the rim of the bowl and all I got was a simple ‘oops’ and he proceeded to walk away – so I decided to take the picture of how it was served to me.
My sister ordered the terrine of corn fed chicken and young leeks. A beautifully presented dish with a garnish of pickled shimeji. I had a try of it and it was great, a truly well made classic.
We decided that we were ready for some drinks now, but after hearing so much about One Aldwych’s amazing cocktails, we had to give them a try.
To the left, the ‘Shamina’, a cocktail that was especially made for my sister to meet her taste, so the barman named it after her. To the right is a peach bellini. Now, I have drunk so many bellini’s in my time, but this has to be by far the best so far. Bravo, BRAVO!
As for the mains, we got a little bit boring and actually ordered the same dish. Doesn’t happen often, but when it does, you know it must sound good!
We ordered the 170g of medallion steak, that was served with roast shallot, thick hand cut chips and soft herb salsa. The steak was a fibrous cut, but very soft even though we asked for it well done. The chips were so good. We don’t often eat chips, as a part of a healthy lifestyle but we were throughly glad to be on this one occasion. Crispy outer with a mushy soft inner – delicious!
Continuing our theme of boring diners, we actually ordered the same dessert too!
The luxurious Amedei chocolate mousse with pistachio ice-cream. A rich, creamy and thick mousse followed up with a cooling, divine pistachio ice-cream was just the perfect way to end the meal. I have to say it is major #foodporn too!
Overall, an enjoyable luxury evening at One Aldwych hotel. Brilliant experience, delicious food and good service. I certainly would recommend a Friday or Saturday ‘night in’, One Aldwych style.
One Aldywch Hotel
1 Aldywch
Strand
London
WC2B 4BZ
Until next time…
